Please, please let this teatard win on Tuesday:
Now it looks like he (Mike Castle) is about to get rocked by totally wild-eyed Tea Partier Christine O’Donnell. She’s the one who says it’s not enough to be abstinent. You have to eliminate sexual desire entirely. Which suggests she’s what you’d call an aspirational politician rather than a realist.
First The Tea Party Express started pouring in money for her. Then Palin endorsed her. Then this morning the Weekly Standard unloaded this hatchet-job on her. And now PPP has just released a poll showing her 3 points ahead of Mike Castle.
I almost feel bad rooting against Castle, because I do respect his record of public service and because O’Donnell’s “unmanly” attacks were shameful, but the entertainment potential here if off the charts.
Yutsano
You’re leaving out another positive to her winning the primary: she’ll get SLAUGHTERED in the general election. Look to Nate to change his Senate outlook entirely if she emerges victorious on Tuesday. The Dems just might make 55-56 seats.
Jay
Anyone polled the Dem against O’Donnell?
MattR
Darn. I was hoping for Lily or Rosie pictures based on the title.
But on topic, I agree with you DougJ. Plus it may end up turning that seat blue.
Gina
Fun. Looks like there’s also a decent possibility to have Teatard fave Paladino as the GOP pick for governor right here in NY. That should be cute.
asiangrrlMN
Pass the popcorn and let’s rumble!
Villago Delenda Est
I’m looking forward to the teabaggers winning all the GOP primaries, and then the 70% of the population that is not borderline ready for the men in the white coats electing the Dem alternative for fear of allowing the loons to get anywhere near the levers of power.
The Dangerman
But is she Master of her Domain?
Nick
@Jay: PPP says Chris Coons, the only Dem running, is “clocking” O’Donnell and polling close to Castle, whom he was losing to pretty big a few weeks ago.
Coons is County Executive of New Castle County.
LosGatosCA
‘entertainment potential is of the charts’
Getcha popcorn here! Beer!Soda!Peanuts! Souvenirs here!
This is epic. The Super Bowl of Laughs.
Just don’t pay attention to the country going down the tubes behind you.
DougJ
@The Dangerman:
She thinks everyone should be.
MattR
@Nick: So it could be “Queen of her Castle” versus “King of New Castle”. I like it.
thejoz
The Teatards are literally trying to stop whatever “Republican Wave” was supposed to happen in 2010.
I cannot wait to hear the handwringing/bawling/outright lunacy if/when Democrats either hold seats or earn pickups thanks to insane far right whackjobs who beat out the establishment Republicans but then got their asses kicked in the generals.
The cognitive dissonance will be loud and very, very fun to watch.
Konrad
Oh please oh please oh please let her win! 95% likely GOP win to 95% likely dem win in the seat!
General Stuck
what a dildo.
Califlander
If she wins, can you imagine her first GOP Senate caucus meeting with John Ensign?
Bill Murray
Who knew O’Donnell was a Steve. I wonder what she will be excellent in. Then she has to retreat, hopefully because she lost the general election
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@Gina: That really doesn’t matter because Cuomo is going to totally smash whomever the GOP nominates.
TuiMel
@The Dangerman:
Who knows? The only thing that is certain is she wants you to be the master of yours….
Citizen_X
Given that she’s 41, unmarried, and violently opposed to masturbation, I think she’s actually achieved that one.
MattR
@Citizen_X:
I like that phrase. Not that I can even form an image for what it means, though I am sure I wouldn’t like it if I could.
feebog
Paul, Buck, Miller, Angle, and now this loony tune. This keeps up we may actually gain seats.
Seebach
Be careful what you wish for. What if some of these people are actually elected? I have no faith in this country. At all.
Upper West
glad you said you “almost” feel sorry for Castle.
You vote for the orange man as leader, you pay the price. Otherwise become a Dem.
Ash Can
@Villago Delenda Est: This is why I’m thinking that the Tea Partiers could end up being the ace in the hole for the Democrats in November. If enough of them win their legislative primaries, it could make for a real wakeup call for the not-insignificant number of voters who don’t make up their minds who to vote for until well into the final stretch of the political campaigns. In Delaware’s case, for example, I can see the lower-information perception of O’Donnell going from “Gee, she’s kind of cute” to “She said/did WHAT?” in no time once the campaign rubber meets the road. It’s one thing for politics junkies like us to poke fun at the loonies, which we’ve been doing all along, and another thing altogether to have Joe and Josephine Shmo in, say, Nevada tune in to a Harry Reid/Sharon Angle debate in hopes of making up their minds, see Reid make his opening statement, and then see Angle follow up by screeching some passage from Deuteronomy, nailing her head to the podium, and running off into the night with the podium still stuck to her head. In short, I for one don’t think any of the current polls are sufficiently factoring in the aggregate lunacy level of the GOP candidates, because I don’t believe the electorate in general has been fully exposed to this lunacy. I’m thinking it’s quite likely that once the teatard candidates are pushed into the spotlight and are forced to either perform their schtick for all to see or turn tail and run, we’ll see some shifting in the poll numbers.
Seebach
Unless Reid also nails his head to a podium because it’s the will of the American people. Cowardice.
Chuck Butcher
@Ash Can:
A year ago I’d have made that same bet … not so much now.
danimal
@Califlander: It’s not Ensign that concerns me. Just don’t let Vitter alone in a room with her. Just don’t.
jwb
@Nick: I know Delaware is small and all, and there was all that business with Biden’s son, but I still can’t quite fathom how Coons made that leap from County Executive to Senate nominee. Is the Democratic bench really that thin?
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
For the sake of governance, I regret that semi-normal republicans are being purged from the party in their primaries, but I certainly don’t feel bad about it. Let Castle lose under circumstances nearly as shameful as the 2000 South Carolina primary. This, and other similar upsets this year, will send a clear message to whatever remaining moderates there are–you’re simply not welcome within your party.
Become an independent like Chafee, Crist or Jeffords, or switch altogether like Specter. Otherwise, don’t bother running for re-election. We’re looking at you, Snowe, Collins, Graham, and even darling-of-the-moment Scott Brown. You know he’ll be teabagged next election.
MikeJ
I have this fear that in two or four years the republicans will start nominating people who are at least ¼ sane and the normals might feel safe voting for them.
Kyle
@Citizen_X:
Her personality is her birth control method.
JGabriel
Yutsano:
THAT is specifically why I’m rooting for O’Donnell in the primary. I find it immensely amusing and schadenfreudy to watch the teabaggers ruin the GOP’s chances with their crazy.
.
Nylund
The Rich Lowry’s of the world get a boner every time Sarah Palin winks at them and then Sarah endorses a woman who says their boners are evil! What is lil’ Richie Lowry to do? Is he going to have to cancel his subscription to Runners World?
JGabriel
thejoz:
Heh. As if there were a difference.
.
Ash Can
@Nylund: I’m sure that Richie Lowry would confidently believe that his boner was an exception.
Mark S.
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):
I bet Brown switches to Democrat. I think he’s going to get sick of idiots like RedState expecting him to be a teatard when he’s representing Massachusetts.
FlipYrWhig
@jwb:
I think the higher-profile Democrat in DE is running to go from Lt. Gov. to Gov. But there’s only one Congressman for the whole state, and that’s Castle; the Attorney General is Beau Biden, who decided not to run. Coons, the county executive, runs the most populous county in a small state, so given all that I don’t think it’s really such a leap.
FlipYrWhig
@Mark S.: I don’t think Brown would ever switch to the Democrats. He could have a long, long career as one of those “reasonable Republicans” the news networks are always rushing to slather with drool. And his personal popularity in the state is high, IIRC. I don’t see a lot of incentive for him to bail out. We’ll see if he gets primaried from the right when his time comes.
MikeJ
@FlipYrWhig: He’ll be the Lieberman of the right. By which I mean somebody who talks about bipartisanship and votes for Republicans.
FlipYrWhig
@MikeJ: I thought the Lieberman of the right was Lieberman.
Warren Terra
@jwb
County executive is a good gig, and better for building a political base than most jobs; US Rep and big city mayor are more powerful, but the former is often too distant and both get more blame
MattR
@FlipYrWhig: I am guessing you were thinking of John Carney who tried to go from Lt Gov to Gov in 2008 but was upset in the Democratic primary. Carney is now running for the House seat vacated by Mike Castle.
El Cid
@Citizen_X:
Really? ‘Cause if there’s one rule we’ve seen recently set in stone, it’s that anyone who spends a good chunk of their public time loudly condemning others for their lack of sexual morality will be soon found in some sexual scandal, and fairly quickly.
Triple wetsuit? Two high school football teams in one hotel? Several nuns? Dressing up as Eva Braun? Likes having hippies spank her?
Barbara
I too think that, overall, it’s better for governance not to have the alternative — who could get elected after all — be such a freak.
But I used to work in Delaware, briefly, and I am giggling as I imagine what the country club Republicans who normally control things must be telling themselves. You can’t imagine how inbred the political class in Delaware is. Part of it is size of course, but even so, I can’t think of any other states where a sitting Senator would nominate his wife for a federal judgeship (wife being daughter of a founding member of one Wilmington’s blue chip law firms). These are not people who are used to being shoved aside.
Alex S.
Are there any moderate republican voters left? If O’Donnell wins – and that probably pushes tea-party candidate Ovide LaMontagne ahead of Kelly Aiotte in New Hampshire – there is a realistic chance that the Dems can hold their majority. In my opinion, that would reduce the threatened democratic seats to 3 (ND, AR, IN), and well, Sestak’s campaign needs to get going. On the other side, you have some absolutely crazy people that I can’t see winning, once the independents start paying attention. In that scenario the Dems would win NH and KT, and they’d have chances in Alaska, a wild card in Florida and chances to get another seat somewhere. Of course, I’m being very optimistic that the currently competetive seats in Nevada, Illinois, California and the like, stay blue. But then, I guess that the enthusiasm gap will diminish as Democrats rally their troops while the Republicans have basically been rallied all the past two years.
A shame for Mike Castle by the way. A somewhat moderate Republican with 30 years of experience loses to a complete novice and moron.
Quiddity
@Seebach: I too, am not confident the Tea Party candidates will lose.
SRW1
@General Stuck:
That invective is gonna totally pass her by. Cause she like ain’t no clue what you’re talking about.
Yellowdog
@jwb: There are only three counties in Delaware and I think Coons is CE of the largest one (one is very small). And his family is well known in the state.
Bobby Thomson
@jwb:
To the contrary, the Democratic bench in Delaware is much deeper than the Republican one, in both quality and quantity. Democrats have taken over all statewide elected offices except State Auditor and the at large seat to Congress. Coons is one of the six most prominent Democrats in the state. (The others, in descending order of prominence: VP Biden, Gov. Jack Markell, Former Lt. Gov. and At-Large Congressional candidate John Carney, Lt. Gov. Matt Denn, and AG Biden.) And then there are people like state rep. Melanie George warming up in the bullpen.
Without Markell or Carney running for the seat, Coons is as good as the Democratic party could have done. (Beau Biden is arguably more electable, but Coons would make a much better Senator, at least today.) Being County Executive of New Castle County is almost like being Governor, since it’s easily the most populous of only three counties. It’s a much stronger base than being, say, mayor of Wilmington. (Unfortunately, he had to clean up after a corrupt Democrat who was cooking the books, which required tax hikes and other unpopular choices. It’s a measure of the man that he is still relatively popular.) Coons also has support from all the same constituencies that traditionally favor Mike Castle. He has a very interesting life story, which the Republicans will now try to birtherize.
Once you get past Castle, Delaware Republicans have no one who can win a statewide Senate race against a decent candidate. Their rising stars have been embarrassed in the last few cycles. They wish they had someone as good as Coons.
This isn’t going to last. Some of the Democrats in other statewide offices are not as strong and eventually are going to create openings. But for now, the Republican party in Delaware is extremely weak.
aimai
@Mark S.:
No, there’s nothing to switch to. I think that Brown might actually make a go of it as an “independent”/Republican. His voting record would still be just awful, but its clear the voters actually don’t pay that much attention to the Senators. I’m beginning to despair about ever getting that seat back. Its hard to believe how little star power and how thin the bench is for Democrats in MA. The local political power structure is just full of wan, besuited, mediocrities. If you are a genius you don’t hang around in MA politics (aside from our beloved Barney Frank)–you get out and you do something in some other state. You move away. I’ve been to a few Mass Dem conventions and the total star power wattage couldn’t pith a frog.
aimai
Nick
@jwb:
No, literally no one else wanted to run.
You got Biden, you got Governor Markell, he said no, you got former Lt. Gov. John Carney, he’s running for the Congressional seat, you got Lt. Gov Matt Denn, he didn’t want to run. You got the state Treasuerer; Velda Jones, but she’s new (and, it has to be said, black), as is Wilmington Mayor Jim Baker and there’s also House Speaker Bob Gilligan, but he’s also new.
After Biden, Markell, Carney and Denn, the next big name Dem in line was Coons.
Jeffro
@Bobby Thomson: Seconded.
Are we just loving this in the First State, or what? The thought of sure-win Castle being deposed by the Teabaggers in the primary…Christmas in September!
Guster
@Quiddity: What I don’t understand is this. The Tea Baggers are right-wing freaks who managed to win big primaries and drive a national narrative, right?
Well, I’m a left-wing freak. Where do I sign up for the Revere’s Midnight Ride Party? It is all just because they’re well-funded by evil billionaires and supported by FOX? That seems too easy an answer.
nevsky42
If excellent public servants like my congressman (Tom Perriello, VA-5) are going to get swept up by the Frankenstein’s monster of the Tea Party, I’ll take solace in knowing that some of its Republican creators fell to it as well…
NonyNony
@Guster:
Don’t discount the power of money and a soap-box in politics. Too many liberals underestimate just how powerful an ideologue with a huge bankroll can be in our system.
Plus these guys have been working generationally. They’re the inheritors of the John Birch Society and the dead-enders of the Confederacy. It only looks like they’ve surged out of nowhere and taken over our politics – they’ve actually been working for generations to do this. The Koch brothers are a glaring example – their father basically raised them to be right-wing assholes who will spend whatever it takes to destroy liberalism. This has been going on for generations, and what we’re seeing now is a culmination of events. People who were fighting against the Yankees and other people who were fighting against FDR banded together in the post-Civil Rights Act era to form the conservative movement, and they’ve been working at this plan for decades.
FlipYrWhig
@MattR: Whoops, yes, I got it mixed up. Thanks to more informed people for setting me straight. All I know about Delaware is that I’ve been stuck in some godawful traffic jams in the middle of the night there, traveling between Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Uloborus
@NonyNony:
Really? Their master plan was to make the Republicans nominate Angle and allow Harry Reid to actually be reelected?
maryQ
I dunno.
This will be entertaining only if sensible moderates and Democrats vote. Otherwise it will be downright frightening. Up until about two months ago, I was all “Please, please, please let them nominate more nutbag extremists!”, and hoping for a Palin-Bachmann 2012 ticket. And maybe, probably, it will all turn out OK.
But this sh*t going on now is keeping me awake at nights.
Every single registered Democrat has to vote. Every single respectable moderate has to vote. Every single respectable news outlet has to endorse the non-crazy.
thalarctos
Is she running as the candidate of the Tea Party, or the Junior Anti-Sex League?
Demz Taters
It’s a nice thought but Jan Brewer’s numbers actually improved after her debate performance.
dude
It’s about time we got the Youth Anti-Sex League started in this country.
AxelFoley
@Citizen_X:
Hmm..she’s not bad on the eyes (in a lady wingnut kinda way). Forty-one and unmarried? Yeah, she needs some cock.
Hey, I’d hit it.
AxelFoley
@Ash Can:
Bingo. This is why I’ve not been too worried by the Teaturds.
thalarctos
@thalarctos: oops, I forgot there was another thalarctos here…